PR, or deep concern for workers rights and working conditions - which have only just been communicated to Apple ?

Regarding those suicides.
Yes. One suicide stinks - the one where an employee "fell" from apartment building after losing an iPhone prototype.
For enlightenment look up "apple gestapo" in Google.

For the rest of suicides, well, compare incidence per worker to the number of suicides in USA or French factories and to the number of suicides per 1000 people in the rest of China. The incidence in Foxcon factories is lower.

And none of the other manufacturers use Foxconn and other Chinese firms to build their equipment... try doing a more enlightened and less pre-judgemental search than "Apple gestapo" and you might find a bit more truth as speakingtohe says... naaah, forget it, it's not about the poor bastards building your kit, it's about getting the evil Apple and ignoring every other manufacturer, Apple bashing is more fun than that...

Poor treatment of workers is nothing new. The US had massive labor problems at one time, heck there are still sweatshops in places in the US today, which lead to the Unions. Europe had brutal labor practices for a long time. Mexico, countries in Africa, countries through out Asia all have awful labor practices.

If people in the US really cared, we would not buy products from countries that do not have stringent labor laws and enforce those labor laws. The truth is most of us are not willing to pay the extra money to buy products from places where labor is protected.

How many people on this forum eat chocolate? It is well documented that the vast majority of chocolate is harvested by slave labor. Pretty much everything sold to any of the large chocolate producers (Nestle, Tollhouse, Ghiradelhi (sp), ect...) is some how touched by slave labor. The only way to potentially avoid slave labor for choclate, and most foods, is to buy Fair Trade certified and Organic. Most Organic farmers have also signed fair trade clauses.

If we are unwilling to pay more for our chocolate, then why is it s surprise that we are unwilling to pay more for our clothes and pricey electronics. I own three Kindles, I have bought my Mom two. They are all made in China and I can guarentee you that a large percentage of the components and the final product are made using practices similar to the ones Apple is dinged for.

Don't blame Apple and Amazon, blame the consumer (ie me) who wants the cheaper product and overlooks the blatantly awful labor practices that get me that cheaper price.

And none of the other manufacturers use Foxconn and other Chinese firms to build their equipment... try doing a more enlightened and less pre-judgemental search than "Apple gestapo" and you might find a bit more truth as speakingtohe says... naaah, forget it, it's not about the poor bastards building your kit, it's about getting the evil Apple and ignoring every other manufacturer, Apple bashing is more fun than that...

But the very first paragraph from the article quoted in the OP is this:

Quote:

Thousands of Chinese factory workers will be given the chance to detail the punishing conditions on assembly lines producing Apple iPads and iPhones, after the US company bowed to criticism and agreed to allow independent inspections of its supply chain.

Why was it up to Apple to allow independent inspections of the working conditions?

Poor treatment of workers is nothing new. The US had massive labor problems at one time, heck there are still sweatshops in places in the US today, which lead to the Unions. Europe had brutal labor practices for a long time. Mexico, countries in Africa, countries through out Asia all have awful labor practices.

If people in the US really cared, we would not buy products from countries that do not have stringent labor laws and enforce those labor laws. The truth is most of us are not willing to pay the extra money to buy products from places where labor is protected.

How many people on this forum eat chocolate? It is well documented that the vast majority of chocolate is harvested by slave labor. Pretty much everything sold to any of the large chocolate producers (Nestle, Tollhouse, Ghiradelhi (sp), ect...) is some how touched by slave labor. The only way to potentially avoid slave labor for choclate, and most foods, is to buy Fair Trade certified and Organic. Most Organic farmers have also signed fair trade clauses.

If we are unwilling to pay more for our chocolate, then why is it s surprise that we are unwilling to pay more for our clothes and pricey electronics. I own three Kindles, I have bought my Mom two. They are all made in China and I can guarentee you that a large percentage of the components and the final product are made using practices similar to the ones Apple is dinged for.

Don't blame Apple and Amazon, blame the consumer (ie me) who wants the cheaper product and overlooks the blatantly awful labor practices that get me that cheaper price.

You probably need to blame yourself too.

Nice post and right on the money.

You want to change it? Bring back all the jobs that have been shipped overseas back to America, but be prepared for the prices of those goods produced by our labor force to go way up. Continue buying them...What's that they're too expensive?? Well that money is going toward decent wages & health insurance, and decent regulated working conditions for the people making those products here in the USA that we love to buy.

Why was it up to Apple to allow independent inspections of the working conditions?

It is not up to Apple per se, but up to everybody. Apple appears to have only done so in response to public outcry.

I am not an Apple Fan, and currently own no Apple products. Still I feel that they are at least trying to do this while not all companies implicated are.

I blame myself as a consumer as much as anyone and feel at the moment that I am unable to both justify and/or rectify my behavior. Mea culpa. I try on ocassion but not enough.

It is not all about China either. There are many situations in Canada that are unfair, unjust and just plain nasty.

Minimum wage is at an all time low in some provinces compared to union/government wages and that is without including benefits.

We are importing record numbers of people from other countries to take these low paying jobs and expecting them to be grateful for the opportunity to be living at a lower standard than those around them. Time Bomb I think.

I shop at convenience stores and big box stores with low wages, I buy food that I know has been produced inhumanely.

I have made efforts in the past to curb these habits, but have always slid back. Now I will try again.

Apple et al are only doing what I do on a larger scale with more profits/savings.

It is not up to Apple per se, but up to everybody. Apple appears to have only done so in response to public outcry.

It was up to Apple. Nobody ask me if I allow them to inspect the supermarket where I shop. Whatever agreement Apple had with Fowconn, it gave Apple rights over the space where the manufacturing was done.

[QUOTE]It was up to Apple. Nobody ask me if I allow them to inspect the supermarket where I shop. Whatever agreement Apple had with Fowconn, it gave Apple rights over the space where the manufacturing was done.[\QUOTE]

How? I have had experience in having things manufactured by another company(s0 and I was never granted any rights as to working conditions or anything else other than my product and the price I was paying.

And the fact that no-one asked you if you allowed them to inspect the supermarket (I must assume you own the supermarket or why would they ask your permission to inspect it) seems a tad odd as I never implied the supermarket(s) were at fault. I am at fault for buying things I know are manufactured, produced under inhumane conditions when there are other options I can probably afford.

Not in any way implying that you could afford to do the same or should inconvenience yourself in any way. Your choice entirely and I am sorry if you felt my post was in any way a personal statement against you.

With a headline like "Apple practices......" I expected a post about Apple's attempts to control what platforms an e-book can be released on if you use their authoring tools, but this is important too (if only barely on topic).

As to the person who said that Foxconn suicides are less than the average in the western world, what do you say about the fact that they've had to put up netting to catch the suiciders? Perhaps the incidence of suicide is low-ish now only because of steps they've taken, as opposed to happier workers.